Carl Sandburg, the poet, called Chicago the “city with the Big Shoulders.”

He wrote that in 1912, 12 years before the local hockey team came along, long before it was denied a chance at dynasty by two other shoulders.

In 2012, Raffi Torres of the Coyotes gratuitously left his feet and shouldered the Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa into next week. Phoenix won that Western Conference first-round series in six games.

In 2014, the Blackhawks were down 3-1 to the Kings but scrambled their way into the second overtime of Game 7. That’s when Nick Leddy, in the very definition of hockey unluck, felt Alec Martinez’s shot bounce off his shoulder and into Corey Crawford’s net.

Without those two mishaps, Chicago would have had a strong shot at four Stanley Cups in five years. The Hawks won in 2010 and 2013, and now they’re back in the Western Finals for the fourth time in that run, against the rare team that can match them star for star.

In fact, Anaheim center Ryan Kesler made sure the Blackhawks stalled in the 2011 Western first round. Kesler was Captain Ominous for Vancouver, and he was plus-4, mostly matched against Chicago’s Jonathan Toews, who was minus-4.

Toews’ only goal in that series tied Game 7. Vancouver’s Alex Burrows won it in overtime, and Kesler was plus-2 that night.

Toews has now grown into the best player in the NHL, or at least the player who does more things at an elite level than anyone else. He is joined by Patrick Kane, the irrepressible scorer who had the Kings dangling on the blade of his stick in Game 6 last year.

Hossa is still a force, Patrick Sharp still a power-play weapon, Brandon Saad still the “man-child,” in the words of broadcaster Ed Olczyk, who gave the Blackhawks 23 goals this season.

In the back, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have been an Olympic pair, although they might not always play together in this series. Keith is plus-10 in the playoffs against Nashville and Minnesota, a tougher menu than Anaheim chewed in the first two rounds, and he and his D-men will probably hold the cards to this series.

The Ducks win for many reasons. A primary one is a constant forecheck. But Keith is hard to find, let alone hit, and Seabrook, Niclas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya can move, too. If the Ducks overextend, Keith and Co. can get the puck from zero to 60 and through the neutral zone, and nothing but trouble follows,

The Ducks’ upper lip has gotten stiffer this season. They take fewer angry penalties than they once did. That newfound serenity was tested in the Winnipeg series and held up. It must hold up again because the Blackhawks were No. 3 in the NHL in power play time minus penalty kill time. The Ducks were 28th. Strangely, the Blackhawks are worst in the playoffs in that stat, with 12;42 more shorthanded than with the man-advantage.

Goaltending is usually the decider, but the Hawks have won Cups with Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford, and Crawford has had to fight back from a first-round benching in favor of Scott Darling.

Chicago faced 30.3 shots on goal per game, most of any Western playoff team, in the regular season. Crawford likes that workload, and, historically, likes playing the Ducks. He is 4-1 with a 1.88 goals-against.

Chicago’s revival is the most positive thing that has happened to the NHL since the lockout, thanks to shrewd, unsentimental decisions by general manager Stan Bowman and an emphasis on speedy players built for new rules. Taking Toews and Kane early in the first round helped, but Saad and Keith were second-round picks.

Since Joel Quenneville became coach early in the 2008-09 season, the Blackhawks have won 14 playoff series and have won 94 more regular-season games than they’ve lost. Toews and Kane were 21 when they won that 2010 Cup, Seabrook 24 and Keith 26. Toews, Kane, Keith, Crawford, Hossa and Hjalmarsson are signed through 2018-19. The Hawks have shed strong players over the years to be cap-compliant, like Niemi, Troy Brouwer, Dustin Byfuglien, Brian Campbell and Dave Bolland. They soldier, or shoulder.

A Blackhawks victory and another Cup makes them the lower-case kings of the salary-cap era. A Ducks victory and Cup would balance the freeway scales. Chicago has to be favored if Crawford does his job, but nobody is expecting quick (again, lower-case) or easy.

As Sandburg also wrote, “Here is a tall bold slugger, set vivid against the little soft cities.” Which makes you wonder: Just when did he visit Orange County?

Three facts:

1. The Ducks have scored three goals in three games against Chicago this year, winning one..

2. Patrick Kane had five points in those three games and was plus-7. Ryan Getzlaf was minus-5.

3. The Ducks were 11-for-11 in killing penalties against the Blackhawks this season.

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